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Need advice on design software

10 years ago

I have more than 30 rental homes(most of them 3000 sq ft) which we upgraded after buying them in last few years. Most of the work involves painting, hardwood flooring, tiling, kitchen cabinets, bath upgrades etc. Right now I have been using just imagination and experience. When you watch TV shows they quickly draw upgrades on computer to give an idea how it would look.
Can anyone point me in direction as to where to get started.
This is my hobby/business/passion apart from being a practicing physician, so I am willing to put some effort into it.
I will appreciate any help.

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Comments (8)

User
10 years ago
Sketch Up. But, the tool is only as good as the operator. It won't magically transform your abilities. For that, you need the designer who understands the whys of what is being done. Just like if you gave a scalpel to a chef, he still couldn't perform an appendectomy even though he's fairly used to cutting up meat.
User
10 years ago
Those TV shown programs cost several thousand dollars.

The link below is for a decent DIY program. It will not be as fast/inclusive as the TV show programs, but the older version I have works well.

Here is a link that might be useful: HGTV software
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The key issue is whether you are trying to design the house or create construction documents - two very different goals. Many homeowners tend to think of the "design" of a house as a "plan" when, in reality, it is just one of many ways to help someone to visualize the actual design and it is not always a very good one for complex designs. Plans, elevations, details and schedules work well for builders because they aren't trying to evaluate the overall design, only build the house one piece at a time. IMHO nothing compares to SketchUp for preliminary design at any price (SketchUp basic is free, SketchUp Pro is $495, the Student version of Pro is $49/year and a trial version of Pro is free.) Since it is unlikely a homeowner will have the knowledge to draw a set of construction documents I would suggest sticking to preliminary design and hiring someone with the proper experience to do the rest. A SketchUp model can be easily looked at in plan view especially with the Section Tool shown in the link below. It doesn't take a skilled drafter much time to enter the information from a SketchUp model into a 2D CAD file because the drafter can use the tape measure tool to find all of the dimensions (if they are not already labeled in the model) and it is possible to import a 2D version into almost any CAD program (Pro has DXF export and the free version will need a plugin script that is available free online.) SketchUp may seem intuitive and for a grade school student it is but for a house designer it has so many valuable features that it requires taking a course at a school or online to be used effectively. You should study and experiment for a month before starting to design your house. There are books available at Amazon and online courses from SketchUp and from SketchUp for Dummies/aidanchopra.com. When I open a SketchUp model from 10 years ago I am surprised at how few of the features I was able to use. There is never an end to learning with any CAD program. Each new version of the software adds incredible features. SketchUp view inside model
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I started with the free 7 day free trial of Smart Draw. That was a great starting point to teach you the basic gist of using kitchen software, but so very limited. To save a copy of your work you have to use alt + prtsc to copy the screen shot and paste somewhere else. Anything you save in Smart Draw will go away with the ending of the free trial. Once that expired, I spent $84 on the Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer software, and I definately got my money out of it and then some. While it is limited, I have been able to find a sufficient workaround to every limitation and was able to create my kitchen perfectly. (For intance, they don't offer wood hoods, so I built my own using the "shelf", the "wood valance", and a cabinet.) I built a banquette seat using cabinets. I put the microwave and sink in by just placing them right "through" the cabinets, even though technically I have 2 objects sitting in the same space, etc). The biggest frustration was with backsplash. It's most limited there - it likes to the do the whole kitchen or nothing in some instances. Not very intuitive, but again, workable. I spent hours on the backsplash parts. Here is one of the drawings to show you the visualization.
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ontariomom
10 years ago
Can 20-20 be bought by an Owner-Builder? If so, about how much does this software cost? Thanks!

Carol
User
10 years ago
5-10K plus yearly licensing fees.
User
10 years ago
kabir,

I re-did my kitchen five years ago. I tried a half dozen Kitchen Design software offerings and found them either expensive, difficult to master with a steep learning curve, or more typically both issues!

I ended up using ikea's FREE kitchen design tool. In that generally I used standard size cabinets, it allowed me to quickly move islands, peninsulas, sinks, etc.

My cabinets looked nothing like the ikea cabinets, but it allowed me the ability to quickly make concept changes and run them past my wife. Also, she could look over my shoulder and explain why certain things would or wouldn't work.

In the final analysis, I came up with the design using the free Ikea software and then turned over that result to my cabinet supplier for detailed design.

I'm sure some will laugh, but give it a try. It's free and you'll know in less that a half hour whether it is any help to you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Free Ikea Kitchen Design Tool

This post was edited by saltidawg on Sun, May 4, 14 at 15:24
kabir
Original Author
10 years ago
Thats a good idea. Mostly I just measure the cabinets before removing them and order exact same thing!!
rockybird
10 years ago
I just found this one online. It's free. I just started using it today so I cant really comment on how good it is..

Here is a link that might be useful: link
User
9 years ago
20-20 Design v10 can be bought at a discount for about $3,000 with online training. It's primary advantage is the ability to show kitchen cabinets from manufacturers' catalogs.

A kitchen is more than a collection of cabinets and appliances and kitchen cabinet suppliers will draw them for you for free. IMO SketchUp is the best way to quickly visualize the space.

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